This content was originally published by the Longmont Observer and is licensed under a Creative Commons license.
This past weekend Boulder Rescue saved a dog at one of the larger reservoirs. Dogs are often saved where people are not. Today in Indianapolis a man attempting to save his dog in a frozen retention pond did not, but the dog found its own way out. There are many reasons that people don’t recognize the dangers of bodies of water on the eastern slope and plains. Rather than just say to stay away, as school kids are told every spring, let’s learn more.
Experience tells me that a lot of newcomers have a past knowledge of ponds, lakes, and streams; that may not apply here. Here, on the eastern side of the Rockies, most of these are man-made and human controlled. A sedimentary pond or reservoir collects debris and brews scum. The banks and shores are slippery, as well as the bottom. You can rather easily walk across the St. Vrain without slipping on scum, because the river flows and cleans itself. Irrigation canals and ponds are murky water. Stay on the surface of the water in reservoirs, and just plain stay out of canals.
Irrigation canals are generally unused from October to May. While delivering water or not, they are an urban drain. Everything that didn’t make it into a storm sewer, plus junk. I always see bicycle parts in the spring. Limbs and branches, animal scat, animal carcasses, broken glass. It’s irrigation water. So let’s just think unhealthy for all. Consider not letting your dog find the broken glass.
If you’re sticking to the surface: Man-made irrigation canals and ponds have devices built into them to control flow, including changes in elevation where water goes uphill. A tuber may enter a siphon, but never exit alive. The way to make canals safe is not to be in them.
In winter, not much really freezes for very long. In my teens I drove on Lake Geneva in Wisconsin for sport. We can’t do that here. Even ice fishing is risky. There are a number of self-rescue techniques that you may want to know, before you’ve fallen in. Saving your dog or anyone else, puts you in the water. Dynamically, at the edge of the ice, your body and actions will break the ice and put you in. Worst case, head first and on top of the current victim. It’s not difficult to drag out a willing human, but a dog or other four legged creature needs to be lifted, which puts the rescuer in the water.
If you’re not far from shore, you imagine that you can easily stand up on the bottom. Despite near freezing water, the bottom is really slick or sucking mud. The Indianapolis tragedy was in a retention pond, which has the same characteristics. Standing water makes for little traction. You fall down in freezing water and cannot help or last long.
Local rescue resources are amazing, but not instantaneous. It’s super important to get them started the moment there’s any trouble on the ice or in the water. Don’t wait to try and figure it out. If you’re not the rescuer, be a good witness. Often a rescuer is unwilling to cooperate with responders while making their own attempts. When help arrives, knowing what has occurred and what is happening now can make a rescue successful.
A victim in freezing water is going to be close to stupid and unreliable. The brain won’t function very well, which can lead to unintentional suicidal behavior. Getting in the water was suicidal behavior. Without a gumby suit I wouldn’t last three minutes. There’s no special knowledge that gives an edge. There’s equipment, training, and other people. If you want to be saved or save someone else or a furry pal, call for help right away. Every second in near freezing water spells death.
In the spring around the time that grade schools close for the summer, fire departments and rescue groups will visit students to warn them about the dangers of irrigation waters. To prevent such adventures, children may be given free passes to the local pool. Irrigation water will flow all summer through canals and fill ponds. It’s very inviting. In most canals, the water appears to be moving rather gently and slowly. That’s not really the case, as the eyes are deceived only seeing the surface. The water in a canal can be moving fast enough to knock an adult over. The slick bottom isn’t helpful. Falling down can mean falling on something in the canal, or being struck by debris in the water, or being pushing into or under something large, like a fallen tree limb. A sober adult may get out with a few scrapes. A child may die.
In today’s news I’ve read of three instances where a person jumped into freezing water to save a dog. In all these cases, the dog survived and the rescuer died. It only took a few minutes. In two incidents, the dog found its own way out of the water.
Are our dogs smarter than us? Let’s be smart enough to keep them off the ice, and not have to learn a terrible lesson. Someone could perish and it could be you.
Paul Tiger
